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House Tobiano
House Tobiano is one of the eight minor noble Houses of Bern and so far, with the exception of the formerly Langean House Sable, it is one of the lowest ranked ones due to circumstances in its recent history. It controls the part of the eastern coastline bordering Rindfell and its capital is Courser. Industries Being on the windswept eastern coast, House Tobiano has very little in the way of arable land, especially now with some of their territory having been surrended to House Bay. Much of their industry is reliant on the sea, with salt panning being a major business all around the coastal areas. Fishing is also greatly important and the region is famous for its salmon that come to spawn in the many rivers that flow from the northern tip of the mountains extending from Rindfell, hence the crest of the House. Said mountains also provide the Tobiano lands with slate and in a few rare places, marble. There are two small deposits of precious metals, one being iron and the other copper, but they pale in comparison to the richness of the Bernian mountains that belong to the triumvirate of the northern mountain Houses. Because of this, Tobiano has always been relatively poor and its lords have sometimes had to seek profit in other areas. History Tobiano, like most of Bern's minor Houses, is one of the few ancient surviving Bernian clans. They were among the last to declare their allegiance to Aramis Stallion. However, they were a fairly strong seafaring clan and their survival has always been dependent on their knowledge of their complicated river system and coastline. Barb Uprising The most notable event in recent history concerning this House has been the peasant uprising that began in Barb but spread all over the Tobiano lands in 1305. Origins Its origins can be traced back to 1301, after the last of the pirates that had taken advantage of the second Seraphim war to raid the coast had been hunted down, when Lord Campbell Tobiano decided to renew the privateer commissions that had been taken out, except this time in his name and with a clause that said that the captains got to keep their commissions as long as they delivered a portion of their profits back to him and not to the Lord High Admiral or the king. This was a lucrative deal for the more unscrupulous of the captains and they agreed. However, in order to keep the commission and acquire the profits they desired, they had to go on regular raids along the coastline, therefore turning them pirate, but since they were not accountable to the Admiral, this did not matter. At first, the raids were not severe enough to mount any serious attention but as more privateers became enticed by the offer, the number of ships raiding the coastline grew. This came to a head in 1303 when three ships raided the town of Jennet and killed the then lord of House Dun, Cohen. It was then that Campbell realised he was in over his head but tried to cover up his deception by claiming that the men he has on commission will be sent to hunt down the pirates that attacked the northern coastal city, even though they were the same men. Nevertheless, the deception held for two years. However, the alliance between Dun and the powerful House Bay that resulted from that raid meant that the pirates had fewer targets to chose from. They began to focus more on Campbell's own lands. It became very, very clear that whatever semblance of control Campbell had, he had lost it a long time ago. The pirates were accountable to noboby and with profit coming in for both him and them, there was not enough motivation for either to stop. The Uprising After two years of this, the peasants of the Tobiano lands got sick of being attacked and a petition was delivered from the people of the village of Barb to Lord Campbell asking him to do something about the raids. Still not wanting to take responsibility and thus hunt down his renegade privateers, especially since they were still making money, Campbell rejected the petition and sent the people of Barb packing. As word spread along the coastline of their lord's callous rejection of their plight, protests began to break out all over. These eventually escalated into violent riots. To make matters worse, some of the peasants decided to take advantage of the confusion and turned bandit, beginning to rob people travelling inland, spreading the violence as communities further into the Tobiano lands began to take up arms against the robbers while appealing to Campbell to do something. Very soon, it became impossible to tell who was righteously protesting and who was simply taking advantage of the chaos to make a quick and dirty profit. At first, Campbell sent his own small contingent of knights, headed by his brother, Duncan, to the affected areas in order to try and suppress the growing rebellion. However, they were ambushed by a large party and overpowered, with Duncan Tobiano being mortally wounded and dying of his injury before the day was over. Without their commander, the knights could not continue their mission and they returned in disgrace. By now, Campbell realised he was out of his depth and, having no other choice, appealed to the highest and most militarily powerful authority in Bern: House Stallion. Knowing that an uprising like this could only be quelled with violence, Stallion responded very quickly. They mobilised knights from all three of its garrisons, with the bulk coming from Destrier, and Grand Duke Alain himself went out to oversee their efforts. After establishing a base in Courser, the knights moved towards the affected southern and eastern territories. With many of them being veterans of the second Langean war, the battle-hardened Stallion knights made short work of the peasant bandits and suppressed any ongoing riots. However, the dissatisfaction at having to fight against and kill their own people and that the situation had been allowed to devolve this far. It was a frustration that the Grand Duke shared. He very keenly listened to the stories of the peasants after the riots in their particular village were suppressed, acquiring a clearer picture of what happened and why. Aftermath Eventually, the ringleaders of the various bandit groups were brought to Courser and executed. Lesser members who had simply been roped along were pardoned and let go. After this, however, Alain was very keen to find out from Campbell why he refused to do anything about the piracy situation, to which Campbell had no answer. Gaining access to the Tobiano lord's records, however, the picture became very clear to the Grand Duke. For one thing, the names of some of the ships holding commissions from Tobiano and the names of the three ships which attacked Jennet matched. Added to this, there was no record of the Admiralty ever recieving their due and Campbell's dirty profiteering was exposed. As expected, Alain was furious at having one of his minor lords make such dirty money at the expense of peace and stability in the region. It barely took any time at all before Campbell was sentenced to be executed for his crimes. As further punishment, some of the Tobiano lands were taken and given to House Bay to administer. Campbell's son, Graham, was put in charge of the House at a very young age and cautioned to not repeat the same mistakes as his father. Privateers were hired from the king in order to take care of the still-lingering pirate threat, with their commissions being revoked and any prize money made from capturing the rogue captains going to the Admiralty in order to compensate merchants whose shipping had been lost to Campbell's rogues. However, even after the last of these men had been taken care of, the stigma of what Tobiano had done is unlikely to go away for a long time. Members Currently Living *Lord Graham Tobiano (1286-?)- Current lord of Tobiano following his father's death *Lady Ludmilla Tobiano (1290-?)- Current lady of Tobiano, formerly of House Sable. *Lorna Tobiano (1307-?)- Graham's daughter *Susette Tobiano (1310-?)- Graham's daughter *Eliot Tobiano (1312-?)- Graham's son and heir *Gordon Tobiano (1290-?)- Graham's brother *Moyra Tobiano (1302-?)- Graham's sister Deceased *Lord Campbell Tobiano (1260-1305)- Executed following his role in the Barb uprising. *Lord Wallace Tobiano (1236-1292)- Campbell's father. *Lady Kelly Tobiano (1237-1298)- Wallace's wife *Duncan Tobiano (1264-1305)- Campbell's brother, killed trying to suppress the Barb uprising *Lord Pollock Tobiano (1204-1266)- Ursula and Wallace's father. Former * Lileas Allendale nee Tobiano (1298-?)- Graham's sister, marries Milo Allendale in 1314. * Ursula Sabino nee Tobiano (1234-1295)- Wallace's sister, married Gray Sabino in 1252. * Morag Perlino nee Tobiano (1273-1336)- Campbell's sister, married Philip Perlino in 1291 Unknown *Rosalind Tobiano (1270-?)- Campbell's sister Category:Noble houses Category:Bernians Category:Medieval